Living in a Sauna

I recently read a story on the World Sauna Championships in Finland (here). Then I read about the heat warnings and high temperatures they were experiencing this week in Southern Ontario and Quebec.

This got me thinking, to prepare for both of these, one should spend a summer in Tokyo.

I am entering my fourth summer in the Tokyo area (fortunately broken up by 4 summers in Southern Ontario), and I can say that this place is just like living in a sauna.

First is the actual heat, right now the temperatures are hovering around the low 30's Celcius and a cool day is about 28 Celcius. So already it is a tad on the warm side. And it will not cool down until November (possibly October, but no one is counting on that anyway).

Just to make it interesting, and to keep you feeling the air around you, there a little matter of humidity. Sorry, that is an understatement. There is an insane amount of humidity here from now until the end of time. It is almost like you can drink the air (a side note, do not drink this air, but more on that later), or at least bottle up the litres of sweat that are bound to pour off you the moment you step outside. Never have I experienced a location that makes you sweat the moment you open the door to the outside.

I am used to a nice hard summer thunderstorm and kind of enjoy them. However, the ones that I am used to in Ontario used to have the added bonus of cooling down the outside temperature and reducing the humidity, somewhat temperarily. Here in Japan, once we have a summer storm (had a couple the last few nights), the temperature and humidity both remain high and there is no respite at all.

As there is this humidity, and the Tokyo area has millions of residents, there is the inevitable smog to deal with. It gets so bad sometimes that one cannot see 50-storey buildings that are less than 5km away from you. It is literally like someone has lifted these buildings and removed them for a few months of the year (I like to say that they left on their own, or have just gone to sleep for awhile). Quite a thing to behold, or not as the case may be. I have even experienced the sight of Mt. Fuji (itself peaking at 3,776 metres) simply disappear and not see it for 5 months.

Add to all of this is the first 8 weeks or so of summer are actually referred to as the rainy season as a rain front covers Japan and stays here to torment us with rain almost everyday. It is not enough that it rains, it is just the mere threat of rain that keeps you griping that umbrella as though your life depended on it, and everyone carries an umbrella here (no trying to be tough or manly, carry that umbrella son, you will need it).

Still, I there is no place I would rather be right now than here.

Bring on winter.

Please.